Even Temporary Weight Loss Can Have Heart Benefits

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Adults who lose weight may be able to reap long-term
cardiovascular health benefits, even if they gain the weight
back, according to a new study.

In the study, researchers found that the less time adults carried
around extra body fat, the less likely they were to experience
cardiovascular health-related issues, such as
high blood pressure or an increased risk of diabetes later in
life.

The results also showed that
losing a significant amount of weight — for example, going
from being obese to overweight, or from being overweight to
normal weight — at any point in adulthood may reduce
cardiovascular health risks, even if a person regains the weight.

In the study, the researchers followed 1,273 British men and
women for up to 64 years. The data came from the U.K. Medical
Research Council National Survey of Health and Development
(NSHD). At several points in the participants' lives — including
childhood and ages 36, 43, 53 and 60 to 64 — the researchers
classified the people as normal weight, overweight or obese.
During the course of the study, the researchers also examined the
participants' blood pressure, took blood samples from them and
asked them if they smoked.

"Our study is unique because it followed individuals for such a
long time — more than 60 years — and allowed us to assess the
effect of modest, real-life changes" in body fat, study author
John Deanfield, of University College London in the United
Kingdom, said in a statement. [ Lose
Weight Smartly: 7 Little-Known Tricks That Shave Pounds ]

"Our findings suggest that losing weight at any age can result in
long-term cardiovascular health benefits, and support public
health strategies and lifestyle modifications that help
individuals who are overweight or obese to lose weight at all
ages," Deanfield said.

However, other experts said the study results show how important
it is to
maintain a healthy weight throughout a person's life, rather
than losing weight temporarily.

"Although it is encouraging that even transitory weight loss
during adulthood has cardiovascular benefits, only 2 percent of
participants in the present study had a sustained reduction in
BMI [body mass index] category in adulthood, underscoring the
importance of
weight maintenance and prevention of weight gain as
priorities for public health programming and policy," Elizabeth
Cespedes and Frank Hu, of the Harvard School of Public Health,
wrote in a commentary.

Exercise and the right diet are still the best means to achieve
and maintain a healthy BMI, Cespedes and Hu wrote.

Previous studies on temporary weight loss and its potential
health benefits have yielded mixed results. Some research has
suggested that losing weight intentionally and then regaining it
was associated with "slight mortality benefits," Cespedes and Hu
wrote. However, other studies have shown that weight loss in
middle and later adulthood may, in fact, increase mortality risk
or not affect it at all, they said.

The study was published Monday (May 20) in the journal The Lancet
Diabetes & Endocrinology.